"They're gladiators? like in ancient Rome? How barbaric." Zack said with a disgusted look on his face.

Akma appeared out of his vortex, but there was a bit more white hair than usual "It's no different than how you played for the amusement of the crowds back when you were a professional gamer."

Zack protested "But nobody gets killed from that. All of the characters are virtual."

"It's still barbarism even though nobody dies. Violence is still violence."

"It's not like you're a pacifist either. You are waging an interdimensional war after all."

The semi-white haired Akma said "That is violence out of necessity, not entertainment."

Zack was at a loss for words for several seconds but then he said "It is necessary. People cannot go to war if they are complete strangers to violence. Besides, it's an undeniable part of who we are. Or at least, who the people of my world are."

Akma's hair turned much more white for a moment, he smiled and nodded approvingly before disappearing.

The first gladiator entered the field. He was a tall man with bulky muscles. In his hand he carried a metal cylinder with sharp blades sticking out of it. A long chain was attached to one end of it and dragged behind the man, it was an oversized flail almost as large as his entire body. He wore thick heavy platemail but there were noticeable gaps within the armor.

Entering from the other side was a woman. Her hair violet was in stark contrast to the red hair of all the other Dirskes Zack had seen thus far. The heavy looking blades in her hands were attached to chains that wrapped around her forearms. Her armor was large for her body but clearly didn't have the same quality as her opponent.

The lord sitting next to him whispered in Zack's ear "The rule is that their weapons must have moving parts."

Zack nodded.

The larger man made the first move by swinging his oversized flail in the air above him. It rotated in the air and Zack immediatly noticed that the weapon moved unnaturally, the circles were much too fast and tight.

Skill Analyzed Metallokinesis Description: The ability to move and manipulate various metals around the user.

Kerink leaned over and said to the Grand Lord Ilvan Vakardrea "I wasn't told that your people had metallokinesis abilities."

With a surprised look on his face, he replied to her "They are a rarity among the Dirske. But what I am suprised about is that you seem to be taking this information in stride."

Kerink shrugged "I've seen thousands of different types of kinesis abilities. They are uncommon, but coveted. Tell me, why are such rare people being forced to fight to the death."

"Because their souls are used to forge golem cores. Which are the first line of defense in protecting my people from the various denizens that wander up here from below."

'Souls?' thought Zack.

The flail descended suddenly. The woman threw her chain blades to the side and dashed forward, propelling herself on more than just the strength of her legs. The flail crashed into the ground where she had been standing, sending sharp obsidian shards in every direction from the point of impact. She turned and avoided what she could but a few of the shards still managed to get past her armor and cut into her calves and thighs. The female gladiator didn't slow down and whipped her chain blades at her larger opponent, curving unnaturally towards the gaps in the armor. He twisted at the last second and deflected one but the other left a gash on his arm.

The fight continued with the male gladiator striking the arena's floor and the female expertly dodging and counter-attacking. Shards of the obsidian volcanic glass sometimes flew towards the audience but were blocked by some kind of orange energy barrier. Blood seeped from their wounds and splattered everywhere.

The fight wore on for several minutes more and Akma appeared with a scowl on his face "What a crude technique."

Skill analyzed Accelerated Blood division Description: Rapidly cause blood cells to divide at an accelerated rate in order to replenish the users blood supply. Thus staving off the effects of blood loss. Willpower cost: 5 per minute

Zack said "Can't they just use a different willpower technique to close the wound? They could even sear them shut if they don't have the skill to heal them completely."

Akma said "Apparently it's another rule. Recently added once the Dirske civilization unlocked willpower energy."

The fight continued with the male gladiator striking the arena's floor in order to fling volcanic glass shards towards his opponent, sending them all over the arena. The woman dodged and deflected the projectiles expertly until she dashed towards her opponent. The oversized flail came down in deadly arc to intercept her for a direct hit, but then it stopped moving completely just as it was about to smash her head in. She continued her rush and released four wires that had been concealed on her back. She passed underneath the male gladiator's bladed gauntlet and wrapped a wire around his arm, then proceeded to bind him further around his face, legs and torso. The thin metal wires cut into his flesh as the tiny hooks dug into him. He struggled and the wires cut deeper with every movement, his blood spilling everywhere by the liters.

Then a horn blew and the woman let go and retreated a few paces away from him. The audience stood up and a tense atmosphere permeated the stadium. The defeated gladiator tried to pick up his oversized flail but he only managed to weakly stumble forward. Fear crossed his face as five men wearing black uniforms landed around the gladiator in a circle. They each raised a strange metal gun towards the man and shot some kind of rippling wave at him. His body instantly started to melt until he was nothing more than a reddish orange puddle on the arena's floor. One of the black uniformed men brought out what looked to a vacuum cleaner with more of the liquid within it, and sucked up the remains.

Zack looked at the scene in horror "What the fuck did I just witness?"

The lord leaned over and told him "His lifeforce will become a part of the golem's core that is still under construction. From what I understand the new one looks quite intimidating."

"This is insane. How can you treat your people like this?"

The lord glared at Zack "Having one golem take the brunt of the denizen's wrath is much better than having it run rampant through hundreds of military men while they futilely fire into it's much too thick hide. The death toll is much fewer this way."

A private message from Kerink displayed across everyone's eyes

Kerink: There are much greater evils in the Multiverse

Zack caught the eye of the female gladiator and in that moment he felt some kind of intense emotion coming off of her, then she turned and left the Arena.

"Akma, can you display her name?"

Akma said "She's not within the database. Would you like to spend favor in order to find out?

"No, it's not that important. Akmadouric doesn't need to use willpower energy on something so trivial."

Just as the audience members were getting up and leaving he heard Grand Lord Vakardrea grumble angrily "She survived again..."

Zack yawned as he stood by the door outisde the negotiation chamber. At the start of the meeting he had used Eidolan Symbiosis with Hroyd to enhance his hearing. But soon grew bored of it after five whole minutes of listening.

The gist of the negotiations was that the Dirske had opened a portal and in doing so they had obtained dominion over their dimension. Akmadouric wanted it for himself so he cold protect the dimension from getting corrupted and to trade for it he offered various technologies, rare materials and favor currency. But so far the Dirske representative was being very tightfisted about it.

To pass the time, Zack talked with the other members of the expedition about each other's home dimensions. The pink humanoid came from a world covered in pink deserts and his species had adapted their skin color as a camouflage. The four armed man with white spots and black skin had a home that had built their citys into the sides of mountains because their people could secrete adhesive gels from their skin, making them incredible climbers. The slime member of their party came from a dimension that had no solid matter and no planets, just an ocean of various fluids for billions lightyears in every direction. Zack told them of Earth and while none of what he had to say sounded very grand to him, the other members were clearly interested.

Kerink exited the meeting chamber and said "Day one of the negotiations failed to result in a sealed deal, but that was expected." behind her, the various negotiators of both sides were leaving as well.

Zack asked "So what do we do now?"

"We're off to the luxury suites designated for foriegn diplomats. You all can sleep there." She looked over at a few of the members "Or if you don't sleep at all, there are other facilities you can use during your downtime."

The group departed and Zack lazily trailed behind at the rear. Just as he was leaving something small and hard hit him on the head. He rubbed the spot and looked back, only to see a few strands of violet hair disappear around the corner as he turned.

After everyone else went to bed, or in the slime's case went to soak himself in the hot tub, Zack left the luxurious suites. Activating Eidolan Symbiosis in order to gain Hroyd's advanced hearing, his ears grew long and pointed. Allowing him to hear soft scrapes echoing up from one of the vertical alleyways, which meant that the person who wished to meet him was risking being caught out past curfew. The guards shuffled along with noisy steps and were therefore easily avoidable, albeit there were several of them.

After a few minutes of chasing the female gladiator with violet hair, Zack lost his patience and sprinted as silently as he could to catch up. Then he activated a skill out of his very limited telekinesis arsenal

Pull Description: Grab onto an object and attract it towards you. Willpower cost: 2 per second plus resistence.

The veins on Zack's temples bulged as the woman ran against the force he exerted. She stopped for just long enough for him to get within ten feet then she started running away again. Inexplicably the telekinetic links holding her disappeared.

Zack stopped in his tracks "What just happened?"

Akma said "She didn't force her way out of it, she dispelled it. The only way she could do that is if she has telekinesis abilities as well. For her to naturally possess both metallokinesis and telekinesis makes her a rarity in the multiverse."

He whispered "I thought that duel in the arena ended very strangely. Interesting." then he continued to chase her until she led him to a small dwelling, going inside and leaving the door open for him.

Zack entered to find that her home was crawling with robots of all kinds. There were several fist sized ten legged ones crawling on the walls. A few flew on dragonfly-like wings. A small blimp lazily floated through the air using a fin to propel itself.

A soprano voice spoke from around the corner "Someone in my position shouldn't be wasting time doing anything except training myself for mortal combat. But I just have this...insatiable compulsion to make things." she smiled at him seductively and said "I'm Bayei."

Now that Zack could get a good look at the gray Dirske woman unhindered, he could see that she had an amazing body. Bayei had incredible abdomenal muscles that shown through her one piece skin tight black clothing. Wide hips lead to thighs that were just as large and muscular as Chun-li's.

'She's flirting with me because she wants something. Apparently the ways of women don't even change across dimensions.' he gave his name in turn "Zack. I know almost nothing about how your culture works. Is there some reason why you wanted to meet with me in secret? Under what could be considered martial law?"

Bayei shook her head "I don't know what that is, but if any of the Grand Lord's men caught us meeting. Then I could be disqualified and get executed for whatever insane reason the Grand Lord can use as an excuse."

"Just for talking? What kind of an asshole does that king of thing?"

Bayei's face turned into a mixture of disgust and laughter as she said "Someone who hates people with violet hair. I've had to walk a very fine line in order to abide by all of the various rules. I narrowly avoided death after I introduced a new weapon onto the field."

"Racism?" Zack furrowed his brow "It's almost an atrocity for you to have leadership with such a great character flaw. You see, on my world geneticists have been pushing a theory that states that people with multiple ethnical backgrounds have more advanced gene codes."

The gray skinned woman shut her eyes hard and when she opened them they portayed an envious longing.

'What kind of life could she have lead to have such a strong emotion within her?'

Zack turned to Akma and said "Akmadouric." thus calling the big man himself for a one on one chat, knowing that if he didn't have a good reason for it, he may never be allowed to speak to the interdimensional deity again.

Akmadouric spoke through his miniature thought projection "Yes Zackery Taylor?"

He had not been given any etiquette courses on how to ask something of such being but flattery always goes a long way "Oh great lord Akmadouric, I beseech you for the sake of saving a life."

"Just talk normally please. I already have enough people who refuse to quit groveling and I don't need another."

"Okay. I don't want to screw up the negotiations process, which means that we can't directly interfere with this insane festival of slaughter. Is there a way for her to cheat death without the rest of the Dirske knowing it. Maybe by reviving her or something?"

Akmadouric frowned "Reviving her after going through the golem core conversion process would be much too costly. The trauma is too great and would shatter her mind. I would have to manually reform it."

Zack turned back to Bayei "What are your chances of winning tomarrow?"

Akmadouric interrupted her before she could open her mouth "There are no winners in this tournament. The golems are not controlled by the mind's of the victors, like the public thinks. The truth is that they are controlled by a very long set of commands, no more sentient or intelligent than any of the robots within this very dwelling."

A horrified expression crossed Bayei's face, then it flashed rage before she turned away, her hands balling up into fists.

Akmadouric smiled "So I think it best if no one else ever has to go through that ever again."

Zack had an uncomprehending look on his face "You're really going to commit resources and jeopordize relations with the Dirske over this?"

"Not me. You're in this alone, but you do have my approval."

"But...why?"

Akmadouric's thought projection shrugged "Zack...if this is how you wish to manipulate the universe around you, then so be it. Who am I to forbid such an action when the future is rife with so many endless possibilities? If you believe that it is better for this woman to be alive, then you may use whatever means you have at your disposal to save her."